Cowan brings United to win

The more Adam Cowan gets to display his gymnastic abilities the better Trust House Wairarapa United will like it in the 2011 Central League football competition.
Cowan celebrated the scoring of the second of his two goals in the upset 3-1 defeat of defending champions Olympic on Sunday week with a series of impressive backward flips and he was at it again when he netted the only goal in Wairarapa United's 1-0 win over Napier City Rovers on Good Friday.
Whereas Cowan's brace of goals against Olympic came in the first half of a game which Wairarapa United led 3-0 at halftime that against Napier City Rovers was scored just a couple of minutes before the fulltime whistle and saved the home team from what would have been a disappointing draw.
Disappointing not only because they had the mortification of missing a penalty late in the match but because of the grief given by a Napier City Rovers side, whose "in your face" approach often caused panic stations in the Wairarapa United camp, and consequent loss of possession through rushed and inaccurate passing.
That Wairarapa United will have to react better to tactics of that sort as the season goes along goes without saying.
After all there wouldn't be an opposing team in the Central League series who doesn't recognise them as potentially the best attacking side in the competition.
They know that allowing them to dictate the way the game is played would be asking for trouble with a capital T and so the importance of shutting them down through close marking will be continually stressed in any pre-match planning.
For Wairarapa United then the challenge will be to show greater patience in the building of their attacks without, at the same time, completely smothering the flair and inventiveness of players such as Seule Soromon, Campbell Banks, Pita Rabo, Dale Higham and Cowan.
How successful they are in meeting that challenge is sure to have a big say as to where they sit on the points table at the season's end.
It will be interesting too to see whether Wairarapa United can find an answer to their penalty-taking woes.
The miss by Scott Robson against Napier City Rovers followed a similar miss by Seule Soromon in the season opener against Lower Hutt City. The latter came very late in the match and allowed Lower Hutt City to cling on to a 2-1 advantage.
Since then, of course, Wairarapa United have strung together three successive wins but one can't help wondering how vital those two points for the draw, which went begging against LHC, will prove in the final analysis.
How they cope away from home will also play a big part in Wairarapa United's fortunes.
Counting today's encounter against Petone at Queen Elizabeth Park Oval Wairarapa United will have played four of their first five games on home turf, which already guarantees some tough away assignments will confront them in second round play.